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TO THE PEOPLE OF GEORGIA. 

Fellow-citizens : I have just seen a paper, purporting to 
be addressed to you by " Mr. Stiles," one of yoi!r Representa- 
tives in Congress, in reply to the note accompanying my 
speech in the House upon the constitutionality and vaHdity of 
the second section of the last apportionment act. It was, doubt- 
less, neither the wish or expectation of the author of this most 
singular communication that it should pass without notice, 
as, in that event, the merits of "his vindication" could not be so 
thoroughly understood or duly appreciated. And as he inti- 
mates an intention of " leaving me the sole master of that blood- 
less field, wherein a 'war of words' is" to be " the only conflict," 
I will not disappoint him so far as to permit him to retire from 
that field without a somewhat formal discharge. 

He very much mistakes the object of my note, if he flatters 
himself with the belief that it was, in any way, interided as an 
^^appealio the public for satisfaction for any ' private grief i^ " 
inflicted by him. 

I should, indeed, think that I had sustained a " loss of posi- 
tion," if I imagined that my " honor," either in my own or your 
estimation, could ever be reached, much less " assailed," from 
any such source. 

As I would kick a cur growling in my way, or crush a 
viper hissing at my feet, so I intended, and so I am persuaded 
you understood, the answer given to him in that note — " et 
mecum sic semper balatro.'^ 



.S'Ea 



There is but one part of his address I shall notice, and that 
only for the purpose of illustrating the character of the whole. 
• He says of hirhself, " I did occupy my hour upon the sub- 
ject stated, and, in the course of my remarks, commented upon 
the inconsistencies of Mr. Stephens' opinions and conduct. If 
my allusion to him had been deemed offensive at the time it 
was uttered, he had the opportunity to repel it, or explain, 
as I repeatedly yielded to him the floor for either purpose. 
He was furnished fwith another opportunity, on the succeed- 
ing morning, when he arose to correct such parts of the re- 
porter's account of my remarks as he deemed erroneous. On 
neither of those occasions did he make any such effort.^' 

Now, how could any man, who had any regard for his 
character, or ever presumed to intimate that he was a gentle- 
man, have made any such assertion? When every person 
present in the House knows perfectly we)l with ivhat scorn 
his remarks were repelled al the time ? And next morning, 
when attention was called to language which he was repre- 
sented in a report to have attributed to me, which I had never 
.used, he disavowed it ; but, notwithstanding that public dis- 
avowal, the same has since been substantially repeated in the 
speech which he has published. 

The days have been, when, to be a gentleman, implied the pos- 
session of some of the nobler traits of character, amongst others, 
virtue, honor, truth, and integrity ; but that member seems to 
have selected a model for the measurement of his own stand- 
ard of " gentlemanly^^ conduct, distinguished rather for an en- 
tire absence than the possession of these qualities. It is not 
my province to assign him his " position," jor place amongst 
men. That, indeed, would be as unnecessary as profitless a 
job for any one to undertake. His character has but to be 
exhibited, and left to itself, and, like many things in nature, it 
will soon sink to its own proper level. 

The minds of some, however, may not be free from doubt, 



whether his blunders and imperfections, and even moral obli- 
quities, should not rather, in pity, be attributed to a natural 
weakness of intellect, stimulated by; an overweening vanity, 
than to any great malignity of purpose. ' In either alternative, 
to characterize them at this time, as they otherwise would de- 
serve, could not escape the censure of pursuing with vindictive- 
ness a retreating, and a harmless foe. Under such circumstan- 
ces, I should be bound to restrain " my vengeance^" " tardy," 
as it may be, if I felt any. There is a point in human degrada- 
tion to which even contempt cannot descend, and at which 
the harsher feelings of resentment naturally yi^d to the gentler 
impulses of commisseration. But 

'• I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him." 

Yours, respectfully, 

A. H. STEPHENS. 
Washington, D. G., March 5, 1844. 



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